The Mississippi in the Civil War Message Board - Archive

Re: Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865

Hayes Lowe from Alabama sent this info to me

"Moorman's 24th Mississippi Cavalry Battalion was in Gen. Wirt Adams' Brigade
of Chalmer's Division of Forrest's Corps during 1865, formerly having been
in Mabry's Brigade of Wirt Adams' Cavalry. Mabry's Brigade had been ordered
by Forrest to be "broken up" on March 3, 1865. Moorman's Battalion had
consisted of just 180 men as of 7/25/1864.

Now here is what is not covered by Dunbar:

Moorman's 24th participated in what is thought to be the last engagement between two cavalry forces during the Civil War. It is also claimed by some to be the last Confederate victory (but I have found evidence that there was one more, in Texas). This was the engagement that occurred in Pickens County, Ala. (in a part that is now Greene County) along the Vienna to Tuscaloosa Road. There has been very little written about this engagement, and most sources ignore it altogether. However it was a rather large engagement, involving approximately 3,000 cavalrymen (counting both Union and Confederate). This is a large scale cavalry engagement, with important cavalry against cavalry engagements usually involving hundreds (not thousands) of men.

Wirt Adams' moved from Columbus, Miss. with his brigade (and possibly a second brigade) with 1,500 men to intercept Gen. Croxton's invading Union force, also of 1,500 men. Croxton had burned Tuscaloosa and was moving to cut the railroads in Mississippi. Forrest had charged Adams' with preventing this. And, he was successful in doing so. He routed Croxton's force for approximately 15 miles, before night fell. Croxton's threat to Mississippi failed.

I doubt that the 24th was physically located at Gainesville when it surrendered, but I have not looked at the microfilm to see. More likely, it was surrendered there, but was physically located at Columbus, Miss. Even if they were surrendered at Gainesville, evidence indicates that most of Forrest' men were actually at Ramsey Station, Sumter County, Ala., instead of Gainesville in that same county."

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Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865
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Re: Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865
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Re: Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865
Re: Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865
Re: Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865
Re: Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865
Re: Wirt Adams' Cavalry command, March-April 1865